What it means to have a family
by secretxlittlexdarling
Summary: Everyone has a different view what family means. And sometimes you get into unexpected situations which change your minds on things. What does it really mean to have a family? And how will it change your life? - See how they deal with it.


**_A.N.:_**_ Okay, long time no see. This shall make up for it. I wrote it as an essay for a class, haven't got it back yet but we'll see. Please don't forget to review, i'm really interested what you think about it. Also slight side note; it could be slightly out of character._

**_Disclaimer:_**_ i don't own ncis:la or else there would be more densi ;D_

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What does it mean to have a family? Of course a family is the people that raised you. Family means blood ties, or adoptive parents. It means a list of generations and all those far or close relatives that you hear about, or even get to see when there is a family event. You can see a family as a primary group, as in that those people are your first priority and after then the other social classes come. But for the team of the Office of Special Project, OSP for short, family has a different meaning. For them, family means that you can trust each other, even in the most dangerous situations, especially if your life depends on it, which in their case is often a possibility. But for each of them it is also clear that everyone has got a special pace to take up on things, and every one of them has a bad habit that the others know about and learned to ignore, or just accept it. There are no noisy relatives that need to know everything in your life, just so they can talk about it when you have your back turned to them; inside this team there is respect.

Of course there are also moments where, for example, Marty is pushing his partner Kensi on a topic because he's like the annoying little brother that has to know everything. And it is also natural that in some moments, Sam and Callen are going into the over-protective-brother mode, because that's what they do. They watch out for each other; it's just another part of their job description. Special Agents work in teams so they always have someone to watch their back. But you have to find the right partner to have a dynamic duo that works almost perfectly. But to find them or even build a team like this, you need a head of this all. This is when Henrietta Lange comes to the mix. You could describe her as the head of the team, but also as small dangerous ninja, hence the fact that she can sneak up on everyone without their noticing. In the Office of Special Project she is the boss, but for the team she characterizes so much more. She is like a mother for them, because she simply worries about each of her agents, even though Marty isn't even an agent. He's just the loaned LAPD Detective that is with the team to liaise whenever the Office of Special Project have a crossover case with the LAPD. Eric and Nell also are part of the team, even though he is just a Tech Operator and she is just an Intelligence Analyst, because if it wasn't for them the team would have no backstopping on their fake identities, no eyes on the traffic camera's around the area they needed and no ability to stop crimes especially if they go over social networks or the world wide web in general. So for them family means their friends, their colleagues. And that is how they work.

The whistle from the balcony made everyone look up, but instead of Eric, there stood Nell. "Oh I see how it goes, Nell is taking whistling duties from Eric again." Kensi grinned at the rest of the team, which started to make its way up the stairs to the heart of the building, the Operation Center, or as Marty has called it once "The room with the big toys." In the room each of them took a position in front of the table, facing the big screen, on which Eric had already pulled up the footage of the next case. Their small boss, Henrietta Lange, Hetty, nodded at Eric and signaled to him to start the briefing. "This is Corporal David Johnson. He and his wife have been found dead this morning by their housekeeper, Mariah Santiago. She reported it immediately to LAPD, and they gladly handed over the case to us." Eric explained all the details they had gotten on the case, leaving Callen the option to give out the tasks on how to go on. "Sam and I will go to the crime scene and look what we can find. You two will speak with Mariah Santiago. Eric and Nell will go through their bank records and search for some anomaly in their life." But before the team could even walk out of the room, Hetty stopped them to give them a piece of information that Eric hadn't mentioned. "The Johnsons had kids, twins at the age of sixteen months. The twins were found hidden in the closet of the guest room of their house. The house, except the guestroom and kitchen, is a complete mess. The killers have obviously searched for something specific, and if we're lucky, they haven't found it. Please search for this unknown, specific thing." She dismissed Sam and Callen before she turned to Kensi and Marty. "You two will, like your team leader has already said, speak to Miss Santiago. Afterwards I want you to keep the twins safe on protection detail. As a matter of fact, you will need to go undercover as a family. Eric and Nell will start backstopping your aliases and will be hopefully finished by the time you will return." She nodded, which Marty and Kensi took as their cue to leave. After that, Hetty turned to her two techs and gave them a little smile, seeing as they were already working away on their computers; one starting the backstopping of the aliases for Kensi and Marty, while the other one was hacking into bank accounts, social networks and anything else the Johnson's had listed digitally as their life.

"So you and me are going to be a family, huh?" Marty grinned at his partner as he got into the driver's seat and started her car. "Of course you would like that." She glared at him. "What is it with you and playing family anyways? Didn't you play happy family often enough when you were a kid? Didn't all the little girls want you to be their baby daddy?" She smirked at him, showing him that she also had a funny side. "As a matter of fact, they did! But you know me, I'm a surfer and I always was a surfer, so that wasn't really my thing. But I bet little Kensi had some guys lined up to play the baby daddy, didn't you? And if they wouldn't behave, you would threaten to beat them up. I bet that's what little Kensi did." He laughed. "No, I didn't. Actually I was a daddy's girl, which is probably caused that my mom wanted me to move with her to another state and saying she, her new boyfriend and I would be happier there and I ran all the way back to my dad because I couldn't stand the thought of him being left alone. It felt like I would betray him by going with her. So I pretty much did everything with my dad, which made me more to a tomboy instead of being a girl," Kensi told him. It wasn't really something new to learn about his partner because when her father's murder case had been opened again, she begged him to take her mother into custody, just to keep her safe. Then he got the same information from her mother, just with a different point of view. Marty was just surprised that the joking conversation had turned to being serious. Of course it was how their partnership worked; she was way too serious and he was way too humorous, and it was something they had promised to work on. He remembered their conversation clearly by the couch next to the bullpen. "In the future I will…I will try to take things more seriously," he said, realizing that the problem laid between their differences. "I…I will try to lighten up," she responded after that. "I'd like that." He gave her a smile for reassurance. "I'd like that too." She gave him the same, genuine smile back, which told him that it was a good change in their partnership. "So, you are okay with us playing the happy family?" He brought the original topic back on. "We have played the happy, married couple already. It's just the same except now, we have two kids. I'm up for it if you are, partner." Kensi looked over to him, needing to see his reaction. After all, she wasn't the only one that came from a broken family. Marty's father had been abusive and at the age of eleven, he shot his father in self defense because the so-called father had pulled out a shotgun, preparing to shoot his wife and son. "Of course I am up for that…" He grinned. "Wifey," he added smirking. "ONLY YOU." She jabbed her finger in his ribs, repeating, "Only you could pull that stunt to make a serious conversation into a joke again." Instead of an answer, she just got one of his signature smiles that gave him, together with his blond mop that he called hair, a childish feature.

The partners arrived shortly after at the apartment of Mariah Santiago and she invited them inside. "Miss Santiago, we really need to know what happened. Just tell us everything you have seen." Marty told Mariah as they seated themselves in her living room. "But I already told the LAPD everything that happened." Mariah answered with a slight accent. "A senhora é de Portugal?" Kensi suddenly asked, confusing Marty with her language switch. "Sim, sou," Mariah answered, smiling at Kensi while she put her dark brown hair behind her ear. "Good to know that you two have your fun, while I don't understand a single world," Marty complained. The two women shared a laugh as he whined like a little kid. "Don't mind him, it's just a temper tantrum." Kensi smirked at Marty. "Okay enough jokes on me now, back to the actual reason we're here. Mariah, you don't mind me calling you Mariah, do you? We really need to know what you've seen, and it doesn't matter if you've already told LAPD about it. Just repeat what you've said to them," Marty convinced her. "Okay, I can't say much though. Well I work as a housekeeper for the Johnson's and today it was how it should be every Monday; I would come at seven o'clock and clean the house till around nine o'clock. Meanwhile, Mrs. Johnson would look after the twins. After that I would babysit Jamie and Noelle until the Johnson's came back from work. But this morning I came to the house at seven o'clock and it was a complete mess. They didn't respond to my shouts, but I eventually found them dead in the living room…Mr. Johnson had his throat slit while Mrs. Johnson still had the knife plugged in her stomach. It was a gruesome sight, I just can't believe how someone can do this, especially to them, they're just such nice people. Poor Jamie and Noelle. Do you know what will happen with the twins?" Marty sighed and glanced at Kensi, who was looking at him too. "Don't worry Mariah, we are keeping them safe until we have caught whoever did this," Kensi answered her. "Oh that's good. Thank you. I really hope I could help you more." She started ranting but Marty cut her off. "You did good, Mariah. This helps us a lot already. We'll let you know when we have something new. Also, if you have anything you want to add, here's my card. Don't hesitate to call if you forgot anything." He said and gave her a card before they stood up and left her place.

Back at the Office of Special Projects, the team met again and shared all the information. Eric and Nell had found out that the Johnson's actually had a pretty average life, but it had changed in the last three months. Mr. Johnson had been tasked with a top secret project and there was no information about it. There was exactly one file and that was only the beginning of it. Other than that, nothing could be found. Callen and Sam had found the electronic devices of the Johnson's which would be looked through later by Eric and Nell, maybe it would bring the missing pieces to the file they had found. The toxicology report told them that the Johnson's died around 5 or 6 o'clock and this fit together with Mariah Santiago's testimony. "Alright. Sam and Callen, you two will investigate further into the work of Mr. Johnson. Kensi and Marty will go undercover now. You will be Lilly and Matthew Williams. You have the 16 months old twins Jamie and Noelle, both brown eyed. Jamie having blond hair, while her twin Noelle has more blond brownish hair. Now please follow me please to get in your wardrobe and get your kids," Hetty ordered. "Good job, everyone," she added then left the room with Kensi and Marty following her trail. After they changed into their aliases clothes, Hetty gave them their new driver's license, credit card and keys for a safe house and the new car. "Your kids are in the bullpen, sleeping and watched by Agent Jennifer Smith. Please call in on the secure line, Nell will answer the line saying this is the Pizza Service." Hetty explained and then left her agents to fulfill their job.

"Honey, can you grab Jamie? I'll get Noelle," Marty asked Kensi, playing his role of the caring husband. "Of course, hun." She gritted her teeth, hating how her partner always would come up with nicknames for her. Every new operation came with a new nickname. And as if that wasn't enough, he also used them when they were themselves. Slowly, Kensi lifted the blonde, sleeping toddler out of her seat and held her close. Then she shut the door and walked inside their new home. "Wow." She looked around the house, impressed that Hetty gave them such a stunning house just for protection detail. "Wow indeed," Marty whistled lowly behind her. "Oh well, something had to pay off seeing as how I have to keep that image of a happy family with you." She laughed quietly as his face switched to a look of mock hurt. "You wound me here, Sugarbear." He smirked. "Yeah, hunbun,." she laughed. "Let's get these two to bed and then figure everything out." She nodded as she traveled upstairs. The partners quickly but the twins to bed, made the quick call in to the Office and afterwards went to bed themselves. Sharing on queen sized bed. "Are you going to take up all four quarters of the bed again, like a starfish?" Marty joked, remembering how Kensi had slept when they were undercover as a happy couple. "Are you going to do that cute little twitchy thing with your nose again that you have a tendency of doing when you're happy?" she joked back, grinning at her success of a counter. He just smiled and patted his right side, which was surprising her he gave up the right side without a fight, but also that he remembered her saying she couldn't sleep unless she was on the right side.

The undercover mission as family lasted a week now, the two partners had gotten used to the twins crawling around the whole house. But they also learned how to feed them and to change diapers. The first was the worst, and that's something both of them agreed on easily. Suddenly Kensi's cell phone rang. "Hello? Who's there?" She answered just as Marty came over to the couch she had already been sitting on, one of the twins in each arm. "Hey Kens', it's Callen. We just want to let you know that the case is over. We caught the murderer. They were just after the special project, which is, by the way, a new secrecy system for the government." Kensi exhaled and mouthed to Marty that the case was finished. "Okay, we'll come back as soon as possible. Do you know what happens with Jamie and Noelle?" she asked. The twins had grown on her; living and raising them with her partner hadn't been that bad. "They'll probably get handed over to social service and then we'll see." Callen shrugged. He had been juggled through 37 different foster homes, it hit him that they would have a similar way in future but he couldn't help them. "No." Kensi protested, earning a confused look from her partner who doesn't really know about the other side of the conversation. "What 'No'? Kens' an agency can't raise kids." Callen protested from the other side of the phone. "But I can!" she demanded, giving Marty a feeling on what this was about. "Kensi this is-" Callen was cut off by Hetty who took his phone away. "Yes Kensi, the papers will be ready when you return." Kensi was shocked, but quickly regained her composure. "Thank you, Hetty." She ended the call and exhaled loudly. "What was that about?" Her partner raised an eyebrow. "Well it happens to be a fact that I'll be signing adoption papers when we return." She smiled slightly. "HEY!" he protested. "And what about me? I helped you. Believe it or not, you'd have been helpless without me." Kensi snorted at his response. But it quickly haulted when she saw the look in his eyes. "Maybe it wasn't just an alias," he said, leaning over and kissing her cheek. "Maybe it wasn't," she whispered, smiling.

Kensi and Marty entered the Office of Special Projects with each holding a twin in their arms. "We're here to sign the papers, Hetty." Marty just announced and their boss smiled knowingly. These two had their family in the team. But now, they learned what it meant to have a family themselves.

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